Wire fabric package



Oct. 25, 1955 B. B. BILLINGER WIRE FABRIC PACKAGE Filed May 6. 2.953

FIG. 5.

FIGJ.

United States Patent FA RI ACKAGE Ben B Billinger, Norwalk, Conn., assignor to The Gilbert & Bennett Mfg. Co.,'G eorgetown, Conn a corporation or Connecticut A lisafi a 6 1. 5.3 S r a Nq- 353,299

4 Claims. ((-31. 206- 59) This invention relates to a single length two-coil wire fabric package.

In the manufacture of wire .fabrie, such, for example, as he a n Wire n in he ne tin i Pr du on a forming machine from single strands of wire and the netting is discharged from the forming machine in a continuous strip of predetermined width, the strip having selvage sds s- This t p Q e tin i c m n y called h c .wire or hex poultry netting and it has many uses, besides its use as chicken wire. s p l ge n -m h made Q at o k nd of known machines which discharge the netting as a continuous strip of predetermined width in the form of a reticulated w fab s w t a sewa edg un n along each side of the The netting is produced in standard iwidths which usually are 24", 36", 48", 60'- and 72". The common practice is to wind the wire fabric strip as it comes from the forming machine in coils or rolls of predetermined lengths when the desired amount is wound on an arbor o r-hub to form a tightly wound spiral coil, the machine operator cuts the strip crosswise thus releasing the s i m e st p c min fr m the ma h The coil is then removed from the hubto release the coil. The strip comingfrom the machine then has a newly formed leading end resulting from the out which has been made across the Strip to separate the Wound coil from the oncoming strip from the machine and this leading end is used to start a new coil on the winding hub.

The trailing end of the strip on the wound coil has across its width a nnmber of projecting short lengths of .wire. These .short projecting portions of wire have to be in some way secured to the wound coil and not left hanging as loose ends. It has heretofore been .the practice for the machine operator manually to tuck these projecting wires. That is, he tucks the free ends of the wire through the meshes of the underlying layers of the netting wound .on the coil and then bends these projecting portions of wire back upon themselves, each to form a hook. This tucking operation seeures the trailing or exposed end of the strip to the coil. That .is, the trailing free end of the strip or, more strictly speaking, the little projecting portions of ,wire are ttuck'ed inall along the width of the coil so that the trailing exposed end of the strip will stay in its proper place ,in snug engagement and prevent unwanted unwinding. The sought for result is a securely formed and iirm coil which can thereafter .be conveniently han al- This tucking operation, which has heretofore been considered as a necessary one, has for a long time past been a source of trouble from the time the netting is first produced at the machine and formed into coils, through all levels of handling the coils, down to the time the wire netting reaches the retailer who sells it to the ultimate consumer.

At the manufacturing level the tucking operation is, for economical reasons, done by the machine operator. Machines now being used for forming the netting, although capable of high speeds, are now limited in their speed of 2,721,653 Patented Oct. 25, 1955 production by the ability of the operator to cut the strip of fabric to separate a coil having the desired length wound .on itand then to tuck in the loose ends of the wire strands projecting at the trailing end of the strip wound on the coil. But this tucking has been considered, heretofore, the cheapest and best known method of making a finished package of netting. Even .so, a coil package where the tucking method of handling the projecting ends of strands at the trailing end of the outside layer of strip on the coil has drawbacks. Such coils when rehandled in making shipments in large quantities by rail or truck not infrequently become snagged one with another in loading and unloading operations because some of the wires that were, or should have been, tucked in are, or become, exposed and get snagged to adjacent coils in the shipment and may result in injury to those handling the coils. This, of course, is troublesome.

There are other problems at the manufacturing level. The nature of the sales at the retail level is such that standard length coils are desirable and the retail trade prefers rolls of wire netting in short lengths as well as longer lengths. Short length rolls, say of 50 feet or 75 feet, or even 25 feet, which the retailer would benefit by haying, cannot be produced at the forming machine sufficiently economically to warrant the making of such short length rolls because of the time it takes the operator to tuck. Experience has shown that when producing netting f 60" width on a forming machine which is operated in a manner to make up rolls of 50 foot length, the speed of production is cut down approximately 50% from the speed if l 25 -f oot length rolls are produced. Furthermore, it is not practical tomake short rolls on netting machines even at reduced rate .of speed. This is due to the inability of an operator to stand the work because the tucking operation when continued for eight hours (a standard working shift) becomes very arduous. For example, a man working eight hours a day on a forming machine and making ISO- foot length rolls of netting 6 feet wide will be required to make some 6,600 tucks. Under such conditions experience has shown that an operator must be relieved at intervals to rest hands and fingers. It is immediately manifest how much the work would be increased if rolls of SO-foot length are made.

According to this invention the drawbacks mentioned above, and others, attendant upon the use of the tucking method of producing rolls of reticulated wire fabric, such as hex netting and the like, are eliminated for my invention provides for making rolls in desired lengths in a eornpact individual package without requiring any tucking.

Not only does my invention solve problems which have for a long time plagued the manufacturer but it also solves problems which have existed at the jobber and retail levels.

It is common practice for the retailer to carry stock of different widths of hex netting in ISO-foot rolls yet many customers desire to purchase a much shorter length. To dispense a shorter length, say 25 feet or 50 feet, the clerk must unroll and measure it, cut the strip crosswise and re-roll the length purchased by the customer. This is timerconsuming and requires sufficient space to unroll, measure and out. In some instances clerks resent this handling of the wire and some retailers will sell only full length rolls which require no cutting. The result sometimes is loss of sales and this is ultimately reflected all along the line through retailer, jobber, and manufacturer. If shorter packaged rolls were available, say, for example, 50 and 75 foot rolls, the needs of many customers could readily be met because the retailer, by eliminating cutting and re-rolling time, can sell a 50-foot length at a price no higher than a shorter length if the shorter length has to be cut from a long roll and then re-rolled because the measuring, cutting and re-rolling is time-consuming. If the retailer has short length standard rolls available he can thus save the time that would otherwise be taken up in measuring a short length from a longer roll, cutting and re-rolling the short length to form a manageable package for the purchaser.

According to this invention, a two-coil single length wire fabric package is provided which may be formed at the factory without the necessity of any time-consuming tucking operation and the package is such that the retailer by a very simple operation may dispense standard short lengths without time-consuming re-rolling. Moreover, by making up the packages at the factory in single predetermined standard lengths but in two coils, each of a different individual length, this provides a triple length package, which may quickly and with facility provide separate coils of different lengths or a single uninterrupted length equal to the combined lengths of the two coils. For example, the invention lends itself to the production at the factory, without the necessity of any tucking, of a twocoil, single length package, in which one coil may be 50 feet long, the other coil 75 feet long, and the two coils unseparated provide a single uninterrupted length of 125 feet. Accordingly, the retailer, whose trade demands short lengths, may consequently dispense preformed compact standard length coils of different lengths and at the same time reduce his stocking requirements. And, of course, the reduced stocking requirements and convenience of compact two-coil single length package from which three separate lengths may be easily had is advantageous not only to the retailer, but also to the jobber, to mail order houses, and, as well, to the manufacturer. Moreover, the snagging of one roll with another, when a number of rolls are stored or shipped adjacent each other, is eliminated because the package provided by the invention has no short ends, hooked or otherwise, which are exposed or can become exposed at the outer surface layers of the coiled wire fabric.

According to the invention, there is provided a unit package having two coils of reticulated wire fabric of a single uninterrupted length, one end of the strip lying at the core of one of the coils and the other end of the strip lying at the core of the other coil and a portion of the uninterrupted strip connects the two coils at the outside layers of the two coils; the axes of the two coils lie parallel to each other and the peripheries of the coils lie adjacent each other, and tying means, such as tie wires wrapped around the two coils, maintain them in fixed relation to form a secure and firm unit package with no tucking required and there are no free ends of wire exposed as the free ends of the strip lie at the cores of the coils and are protected from exposure at the surface of the package by the overlying spiral layersof the coiled fabric.

Although the novel features which are believed to be characteristic of the invention will be pointed out in the annexed claims, the invention itself as to its objects and advantages and the manner in which, it may be carried out may be better understood by reference to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, in which:

Fig. l is a view in perspective of a unit two-coil single length hex netting package embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 are views, more or less diagrammatic, to illustrate steps in forming the package shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is an end view of the package shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is an end view of the package showing the two coils of Fig. 1 cut apart to illustrate how the coils may be dispensed separately, if desired, and

Fig. 6 is a partial view to larger scale of the hex netting used to form the package shown in Fig. 1.

Referring now to the drawings, in which like reference characters denote like parts throughout the several views, Fig. 1 shows a unit package 10 of reticulated wire fabric made according to the invention. In this instance v the wire fabric is hex poultry netting such as shown in Fig. 6 which illustrates a swatch cut from a strip. The strip has a selvage edge at each side of strip, the selvage being indicated at 11 and 12. The strip has the conventional meshes provided by the wires 13 which may be considered as running generally lengthwise of the strip.

In the manufacture of the netting, a forming machine 14 (see Fig. 2 which is primarily diagrammatic) discharges the formed netting as a continuous strip 15. The strip will be of a predetermined width, standard widths ordinarly being 24", 36", 48", 60" and 72". The leading end 16 of the strip is started on a winding hub 17 and the strip as it comes from the machine is wound on the hub to form a spirally wound coil 18. When the desired length is wound on the coil 18, the strip is cut crosswise to separate the coil 18 from the oncoming strip 15. In cutting the strip crosswise as on line AA of Fig. 6, the trailing end of the strip wound on the hub will have, at the places where the wires were cut, short projecting portions 19 of wire. According to prior practice these portions 19 were tucked in at the surface of the coil 18, each portion 19 being formed into a book as illustrated at 19a (Fig. 6). This tucking operation is time-consuming as mentioned above.

According to this invention, the tucking is not performed or necessary. The coil 18 when of desired length is separated from the oncoming strip 15 and is removed from the hub 18 and the then leading end of the strip coming from the machine is started on the winding hub 17 and another coil like 18 is wound and cut from the oncoming strip from the machine.

The coil 18 may, for example, be made to have a length of 125 feet. Then the 125-foot coil is placed on the hub 20 of a rewinding apparatus and the trailing free end of the coil 18 is started on the rewinding hub 21 and 50 feet of the larger coil is wound on hub 21, producing a coil 22 of 50-foot length and leaving a coil 23 of 75- foot length. Now it will be observed that one end 24 of the 125-foot length strip lies at the core of coil 22 and the other end 16 of the strip lies at the core of the coil 23, and the coils are joined by a portion 25 at the outside surface layers of the coils. The coils 22 and 23 are removed from the hubs 20 and 21 and the two coils rolled toward each other until their peripheral surfaces are adjacent each other with the axes of the cores parallel with each other.

Then the coils 22 and 23 are secured firmly in that relation by means of tie wires 26 and 27. These tie wires may be of soft wire merely wrapped around the coils as shown in Figs. 1 and 4, and they may be drawn up taut by twisting the ends as shown at 28 and 29. Additional tie wires in the form of loops 30 and 31 are also used. There is such a loop at each end of each coil. That is at the other end of the coil 22 opposite the loop 30 is a similar tying loop (not seen in the drawings) and at the opposite end of the coil 23 and opposite loop 31 is a similar tying loop (not seen in the drawings). These loops are of short lengths of soft wire which are run through the meshes of the netting and then tied together and made taut as by twisting the ends as shown at 32 and 33.

It will now be seen that the unit package as illustrated in Fig. 1 comprises a single length in two coils 22 and 23. One end 24 of the strip lies at the core of the coil 22 and the other end 16 lies at the core of coil 23, but there has been no tucking required. The coils are joined by the portion 25 of the uninterrupted strip and there are no protruding wires or hooks exposed at the surface.

The two-coil strip, which for illustrative purpose has been assumed to be of 125 feet length, is made in two coils, one coil 22 being feet in length and the other coil 23 being feet in length. If the retailer desires to sell to a customer a 50-foot length, all that need be done is to clip the tie wires 26 and 27 and cut crosswise through the joining portion 25 of the strip, thus to produce a separate single coil 22a of 50 feet length and a separate single coil 23a of 75 feet length, as illustrated in Fig. 5, the little looped tie wires 30 and 31 serving to prevent the individual coils from unwinding.

Although the invention has been described in connection with a single strip having a length of 125 feet and in two coils, one having a length of 50 feet and the other of 75 feet, it may be understood that single length packages made up of two coils having any desired standard lengths may be provided. Also, there are other types of reticulated wire fabric than hex chicken netting which may advantageously be packaged according to the invention. For example, Welded wire cloth, fencing, and such other kinds of reticulated wire fabric which when it is cut crosswise of the length of the strip will present projecting end portions of wire which would ordinarily require tucking in. It will be understod that the term reticulated wire fabric as used herein comprehends those types of wire fabric just mentioned.

It will be seen from the foregoing description that since, according to the invention, no tucking is required, it will allow considerably increased speeds of the forming machines with no increase in labor requirements. In fact the labor will be less arduous. The finished package will not have any protruding ends which may snag with other coils when they are stored or shipped together. Since there are no protruding ends, the coils of netting can be rehandled without affecting the finished package. Short rolls will be rigid and can he stood on end in the warehouse of the manufacturer as well as the wholesaler and dealer without distortion. The rigid rolls provided by the invention will eliminate damage in shipping because when two smaller rolls are strapped together, it makes the package rigid. Since no tucking is required, a wider selection of labor can be had to operate the forming machines at the factory because the older methed which required tucking also required strong hands and fingers because of the arduous work.

At the dealer level the retailer has available a package from which he can readily dispense any one of three lengths from a single package, and it will not require any re-rolling from a measured-out length. All that is required of the dealer is to make one simple cut across the width of the wire between the two coils of the single length two-coil package. Furthermore, the dealers stocking problems are greatly simplified as well as stocking problems of the jobber, mail order house and manufacturer.

The terms and expressions which have been employed herein are used as terms of description and not of limitation, and there is no intention in the use of such terms and expressions of excluding any equivalent of the features shown and described or portions thereof, but it is recognized that various modifications are possible within the scope of invention claimed.

What is claimed is:

l. A unit package comprising a two-coil strip of reticulated wire fabric uninterrupted throughout its length, each of said coils consisting of a substantial length of said strip spirally wound so that each coil is of generally cylindrical shape and has a plurality of spiral layers of said fabric, one end of said strip lying at the core of one of said cylindrical coils and the other end of said strip lying at the core of the other of said cylindrical coils, the outside layer of one of said cylindrical coils being joined to the outside layer of the other of said cylindrical coils by a portion of strip strip intermediate its ends, said strip having no wire ends exposed on the outside surface layers of said coils and a removable typing means holding said two cylindrical coils together to form a rigid package in which the axes of the two coils lie parallel to each other.

2. A unit package comprising a two-coil strip of reticulated wire fabric uninterrupted throughout its length, one of said coils consisting of a predetermined standard length of said strip spirally wound to form a first cylindrical coil and the other of said coils consisting of a predetermined standard length substantially longer than the length of said first coil and spirally wound to form a second cylindrical coil, each of said cylindrical coils having a plurality of spiral layers of said fabric, one end of said strip lying at the core of one of said coils and the other end of said strip lying at the core of the other of said coils, the outside layer of one of said coils being joined to the outside layer of the other of said coils by a portion of said strip intermediate its ends, said strip having no wire ends exposed on the outside surface lay ers of said coils, and tying means secured to said coils holding them secure adjacent to each other with the axes of said coils parallel to each other.

3. A unit package comprising a tuckless two-coil strip of hex poultry netting uninterrupted throughout its length and having selvage edges, one of said coils consisting of a predetermined standard length of said netting spirally wound to form a first cylindrically shaped coil having a plurality of spiral layers of said netting, and the other of said coils consisting of a predetermined standard length of said netting longer than the length of said first coil forming a second cylindrically shaped coil having a plurality of spiral layers of said netting, one end of said strip lying at the core of said first cylindrical coil and the other end of said strip lying at the core of said second cylindrical coil, the outside layer of said first cylindrical coil being joined to the outside layer of said second cylindrical coil by a portion of said strip intermediate its ends and which lies in a plane which is substantially tangent to both coils, and tying means strapping said coils securely adjacent to each other with the axes of said coils parallel to each other.

4. A unit package comprising a two-coil strip of reticulated wire fabric uninterrupted throughout its length, one of said coils consisting of a predetermined length of said strip spirally wound to form a first cylindrically shaped coil having a plurality of spiral layers of said fabric, and the other of said coils consisting of a predetermined standard length of said fabric spirally wound to form a second cylindrically shaped coil having a plurality of spiral layers of said fabric, one end of said strip lying at the core of the first of said cylindrical coils and the other end of said strip lying at the core of the second of said cylindrical coils, the outside layer of one of said cylindrical coils being joined to the outside layer of the other of said cylindrical coils by a portion of said strip intermediate its ends and which lies in a plane substantially tangent to both coils, said strip having no Wire ends exposed on the outside surface layers of said coils, and tying means holding said coils securely adjacent to each other with the axes of said coils parallel to each other, and other tying means secured to each of said coils which prevent said individual coils from unwinding when said coils are separated from each other by cutting said coil joining portion crosswise of the strip.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 298,133 Swinscoe May 6, 1884 901,035 Patton Oct. 13, 1908 FOREIGN PATENTS 294,545 Germany Oct. 13, 1916 

